Deportation denied for Aussie judge
TARAWA: A Kiribati court has ruled that a High Court judge in the Pacific Island nation who has been suspended by the president cannot be deported to Australia where he was born until parliament considers the findings of a tribunal examining a complaint made against him.
The attempted deportation two years ago of David Lambourne, a judge who is married to Kiribati’s opposition party leader, sparked a judicial crisis in the Pacific Island nation in a case closely watched by the United Nations and international legal groups.
A resident of Kiribati for 30 years, Lambourne has been living there without a visa or salary since 2022 when President Taneti Maamau suspended him. Mr Maamau then suspended all three Court of Appeal judges and the chief justice after they ruled Mr Lambourne should not be deported.
One attempt at forced deportation amid legal proceedings in August 2022 failed when a Fiji Airlines pilot refused to accept Mr Lambourne on t he plane against his will.
In his ruling yesterday, High Court Commissioner Aomoro Amten said that although Lambourne’s suspension is valid, it was unconstitutional to withhold his salary, and he must not be deported until parliament considers the outcome of a tribunal that is yet to deliver a report.
Mr Lambourne’s lawyers had argued in court that none of the allegations made against him — including a disputed claim he took too long to make judgements — justified the president forming a tribunal to investigate his removal from office.
In a letter to Kiribati in September 2023, Margaret Satterthwaite, UN Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers, said she was “seriously alarmed” at the series of suspensions of judges.
She said it had left Kiribati without a functioning High Court or Court of Appeal to act as a check on the power of parliament.